Just over a week after the vote, the Chinese Embassyretained top lobbying firm Patton Boggs. The monthly retainer,which was initially $22,000, has since climbed to $35,000,according to the latest forms disclosed under the Foreign AgentsRegistration Act.

A handful of lawmakers, who were shocked at the visceralreaction to the Unocal deal, formed a group to help Chinaunderstand Congress and vice versa. The Chinese Embassy startedinviting members of Congress to meet their policymakers and itsambassador - then the suave and good-humored Zhou Wenzhong -paid visits to Capitol Hill where he would take verbal beatingsover volatile issues such as China's support for Sudan.

"As long as the door was closed and the media wasn't there,(lawmakers) and the Chinese discussed third rail issues," saidone congressional aide. "This allowed Americans to blow off alot of steam."

Representatives, who rarely got the chance to talk to U.S.Cabinet members, much less Chinese policymakers, were now ableto confer with Beijing's top ministers and make productive tripsto China. The bipartisan Congressional U.S.-China Working Group"helped translate the Congress into Chinese," said the aide.

Gone were the old ham-handed approaches - like the 20-pageblast fax on Taiwan and Tibet that once went to scores of U.S.lawmakers, according to congressional aides and trade experts.

China's sheer economic size and importance as a marketincreasingly speak more effectively than its diplomats or hiredhands from K Street.

While Chinese imports to the U.S. remain very high, 420 ofthe 435 congressional districts saw higher growth in exports toChina than they did to other overseas markets in 2011, accordingto trade data compiled by the U.S.-China Business Council. Evendistricts of strident critics of Beijing or authors ofprotectionist legislation aimed at China enjoyed rapid growth inexports to the Chinese market.

And the tide of Chinese investment has just begun, withChina and its companies sitting on hundreds of billions ofdollars in cash.

NO ONE WANTS TO BE HUAWEI

CNOOC and Wanxiang are doing whatever it takes to avoid arepeat of what happened to Huawei, the world's second largesttelecom equipment maker, which has had deal after deal fallapart in the United States.

In 2008, Huawei and private equity firm Bain Capital wereforced to give up their bid for 3Com Corp after a U.S. panelrejected the deal because of national security concerns. Somelawmakers fear that Huawei gear could allow the Chinese to tapinto the U.S. telecommunications network or even provide a wayfor it to sabotage systems.

Then in 2011, the company was forced to relinquish plans tobuy some assets from U.S. server technology firm 3Leaf after theCommittee on Foreign Investment in the United States mandatedthat Huawei divest certain parts of the deal.

It was a shock - especially given the deal, which hadalready been consummated - was worth just $2 million. Huawei hadnot even filed with the U.S. government for security approvals.

In contrast, when Wanxiang announced in August it wouldrescue A123 Systems, the companies quickly said they would askthe U.S. government to review the deal for potential nationalsecurity concerns.

The Chinese auto parts maker - which plans to provide up to$465 million to A123 - has retained a law firm for the securityreview, but has not hired lobbyists to make the case for thetakeover.

"We're confident the process will be transparent and will befair. I think we're trying to help the company and save thejobs," said Pin Ni, president of Wanxiang America Corp.

With lawmakers probing Huawei for any potential threats toU.S. telecommunications, the company has boosted its lobbyingefforts. It plucked Donald Purdy, a member of a White Housestaff team that drafted a U.S. national strategy to securecyberspace in 2003, to serve as chief security officer for itsU.S. operations.

"Politics are politics. The realities of this industry arethat, whether you are talking infrastructure or devices, it is atransnational industry. It is utterly borderless," said WilliamPlummer, U.S. spokesman for Huawei.

The company now has seven firms registered to lobby U.S.lawmakers, including APCO, Doyce Boesch and Fleishman-Hillard,according to forms filed under the lobbying disclosure act. T hatis up from four firms in 2011, two in 2010 and one in 2009.

Top lobbyists for Huawei include William Black, a formerchief of staff to Steny Hoyer, then Democratic leader in theHouse of Representatives.

Huawei has also started appealing to mainstream audiences.During this year's Summer Olympics, it aired commercials on NBC.The company sponsored a high profile food fair in Chicago and isset to sponsor similar events across the country.

In Canada, Huawei has made strenuous efforts to show along-term interest in the country since winning a contract in2008 to build networks for domestic operators Telus and BellCanada.